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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30119064">Easier</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aliiice/pseuds/Aliiice'>Aliiice</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Girls (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Denial, Eventual Smut, F/M, angsty, kind of fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:34:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,338</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30119064</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aliiice/pseuds/Aliiice</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Canon divergent from 4x02.</p><p>Beth keeps thinking about what the hitman said about how her life would be different if Rio was gone.<br/>She doesn't know why she thinks about it that much. Her life would be easier. Right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beth Boland/Rio</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>124</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Easier</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>"What would her life be without him?"  </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Easier. That's what it would be if not normal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The question keeps running through her brain cells. She </span>
  <em>
    <span>knows</span>
  </em>
  <span> for a fact her life would be easier without him. Exhibit by the fact she used to live without him and she was fine. Turns out her life was flawed but that has nothing to do with him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then she turned to crime and it was fine before she met </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
  <em>
    <span>That’s </span>
  </em>
  <span>when the problems really started. Until then she’d just robbed a grocery store without anyone asking any questions. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then last year she’d started making money, without him, and it was perfectly fine. Way less pressure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ever since he’s been back in her life it’s been nothing but a nightmare. She doesn’t even know why the question is torturing her so much. It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>clear</span>
  </em>
  <span> that her life is better without him. She doesn’t need to justify it to anyone. Not to the hitman, not to herself, not to anyone.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s late after closing time when Rio shows up at Boland Bubbles. She’s alone in the office, waiting for him. He’d said they needed to talk over a few business decisions. She wonders which one of them will involve robbing her of what she’s worked for.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She waits for him by the window, handbag over her shoulder, ready to go when they’re finished. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he gets in he sits down, comfortably, on the chair opposite the desk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How you doin’?” he asks nonchalantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good. What is this about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiles but she’s in no mood to play cat and mouse right now. She wants to get home to her family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sit down, I want to discuss some business matters.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She really doesn’t want to but he insists so she rounds the desk to sit on the other chair. The faster they do this, the faster she can leave this office.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiles at her, proud of himself for making her sit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At last, he drops the smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Business going good,” he starts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Is this why he asked her to stay late? To state facts?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I know, I’m in charge of bookkeeping.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I mean, it’s going really good I’m thinkin’ we should expand.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Buy another paper store. Print more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beth feels suspicious about this offer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How? I can't be at two places at once.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rio smirks. “You’re already sellin’ spas and makin’ money.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dean sells them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He chuckles. “Rights, right.” He runs his hand through his stubble. “I can have a guy be where you can’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then it clicks for Beth. Of course, this wasn’t just an innocent offer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you can teach them how to make my money and get rid of me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He rolls his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sayin’ our demand is increasing ‘cause you make good money, and our offer should match the demand.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay so maybe since he’d come back they were moving money faster than she ever thought herself capable of back when she was doing it by herself. But she would have been fine washing the money she was washing at the time. She doesn’t need an </span>
  <em>
    <span>empire</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, it was nice to hear she did a good job with the money but she didn’t need </span>
  <em>
    <span>him </span>
  </em>
  <span>to tell her that. If they weren’t caught by the FBI it was pretty clear that meant her money was passing with flying colors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Think about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gets up to leave but stops at the door frame.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re a bit heavy in cash, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Next time, we’ll set up your offshore accounts.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So what? She could have learned to do that herself. Besides, he says that now but no one’s sure he will actually show up and teach her how to do it. Maybe he won’t even teach her, maybe he’s just going to take her money like it’s his, dry up her accounts, and she won’t know it until it’s too late and she’s completely dependent on him financially. Or maybe he’ll just kill her before that happens.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s almost two weeks later but he does teach her how to set offshore accounts, how and when to move the money. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he doesn’t want to take all her money away from her it seems. But that’s just for now. When he brings up the expansion again she’s still skeptical. It could all be a ruse to steal her business from her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To try to convince her he spends hours that night talking to her about his ideas for their business. They talk about how, </span>
  <em>
    <span>theoretically</span>
  </em>
  <span>, that would work, what each of their roles would be. He tells her about how to run a lasting illegal business, what to do, what not to do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without him, her life would be empty of these conversations. She’d be making those decisions alone and learning how to survive the hard way. She wouldn’t have anyone to talk to when things get hard because no one understands what the job entails. But after all, “it’s lonely at the top”, right? It’s just how it is. If he wasn’t there she’d just have the life everyone else has.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Okay so her business had been flourishing since he became a part of it but she was still responsible for making the money, opening Boland Bubbles, selling the tubs, etc, he was just… helping. She could do without the help. She wouldn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>drown</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And he was still making her life miserable. Constantly changing plans, taking her cut when he wanted to “teach her a lesson” just because she hadn’t told him about that extra sale that one day and kept the money to herself. But she only did it because he partnered up behind her back for Boland Bubbles. If he can make his own deals, so can she. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>One night, </span>
  <em>
    <span>she</span>
  </em>
  <span>’s the one walking on him in Boland Bubbles’ office. She was using the toilets and he must have got in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was about to get in but he’s on the phone and she overhears the word “expansion”. Eavesdropping would be a great way to finally catch him in his lie and expose him. If he wants to get rid of her it won’t be that easy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hm…. No, I’m workin’ on it with my partner.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Partner? Who was that? Had he gone and made another deal behind her back?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah…. I’ll set up a meetin’.... Right…. You won’t regret it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hangs up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t get much. The only thing she got is that he still wanted to expand Paper Porcupine and Boland Bubbles and he already had a partner to do it with. Her days were numbered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she opens the door he turns around, unsurprised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You took your sweet time in there. I need to talk to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beth braces herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think you should meet with my guys if we expand.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wait- What?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Could she be the partner he was talking about? It dawns on her that he said “we”, “if </span>
  <em>
    <span>we</span>
  </em>
  <span> expand”, and she realizes he’s been saying “we” for a while now. So maybe he was serious about doing this with her? Maybe for once, he wasn’t playing her? He was actually thinking of going into business with her? Longterm?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, that takes the conversation to a whole other level. If all the conversations they had about being partners in this, about how they would divide the work, the money, about sharing profits and expenses, were genuine, she’d have to think about whether or not it would be beneficial for </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because she wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>like</span>
  </em>
  <span> him. He was a criminal and she was… well a good person trying to make it through. They probably had very different ways of managing things. Actually, it’s been proven before. And if he wasn’t in her life he wouldn’t be constantly challenging her worldview, pushing her to the edge of the line she said she’d never cross. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They didn’t have the same priorities. She was a mom and he was… The point is they were different. They had different ways of working and, overall, living. If he wasn’t in her life anymore she could live her life as she intends, making her own rules, thriving on her own flourishing business.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>One day, a shady guy shows up and asks for ten hot tubs. She knows better than to sell ten hot tubs without doing a little background check. If her business was legit it could just be a guy looking to… renovate a castle or something. But her business was not legit and there were more chances that this guy was either FBI or from another gang and he was sniffing around her business.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she talks to Dean about it he’s completely oblivious, obviously. He thinks it’s a great opportunity and he doesn’t understand why she’s “making a fuss” about it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So then she goes to the girls for advice. With them, she can be honest so it’s easier. But they still don’t get it. They don’t have an answer to give her, they don’t any advice because they don’t know what it is she does every day. They don’t know what it means to mess up first hand in this business.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, the only person she can go to when that kind of thing happens is also the person she wants dead at the moment… Maybe… Kind of… It’s complicated. But right now she needs to get advice from him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s not answering her texts so she does what she does best: she stalks him. She follows him to some kind of community center. She parks and shortly wonders if she should follow him inside or just wait outside. She doesn’t really know what to expect if she follows him inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which actually makes her even more curious. Why </span>
  <em>
    <span>would he</span>
  </em>
  <span> go to this kind of place? What kind of business can he conduct there?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, now she </span>
  <em>
    <span>has</span>
  </em>
  <span> to know. So she follows him inside.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>She should have waited outside. Even better, she shouldn’t have followed him in the first place. She should have just waited for him to show up at Boland Bubbles or Paper Porcupine because right now she was hiding behind a table with a paper tablecloth for the honoree of the night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a surprise birthday party.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hadn’t had time to return to her car because she’d got there at the very moment a woman shouted “he’s here!” and everyone ran around to find a hiding place. Before she knew where she was someone was grabbing her arm and pulling her to the floor behind that table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So she stayed quiet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fortunately, that also meant the guy didn’t take long to arrive and no one had time to see her except for the woman who’d pulled her arm but she was so excited she didn’t even think about asking any questions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he enters the room and everybody screams “Happy Birthdayyyy!” she uses the opportunity to get up and leave quietly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Only, she catches sight of Rio in the crowd. He was the first one to hug the birthday boy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She observes him for a minute interacting with him and other members of… his family? his friends? his gang? No that’s probably not it. She realizes she’s most probably in presence of Rio’s family so she takes a look around trying to decide whether or not the faces look similar. They could be but she could also be imagining things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She watches as he congratulates and laughs with the other man. Then in the corner of her eyes,  a small person runs towards them. Rio bents down and picks up Marcus to hand him to the guy. Marcus opens his arms and exclaims “Happy Birthday uncle David!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shit, it </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> Rio’s family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She allows herself to take another look around before she leaves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe she shouldn’t have because now someone’s grabbing her. It’s Rio. Shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’s a bit startled and she can’t come up with a lie fast enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulls her out of the room and into a storeroom. He closes the door behind them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How are you here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She still can’t come up with anything. The room is small and dark and he’s so close it’s hard to focus.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you follow me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- No! I needed to talk to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- Yes. You didn’t answer my texts I said we needed to talk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elizabeth, I can’t right now I’m busy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well, if you want to be partners again you’re gonna have to deal with business stuff when it’s inconvenient. I can’t change my schedule for you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you talking about? What is this about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-.” She takes a breath. “There’s this guy who wants to buy ten hot tubs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s a silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s… shady! I thought we should discuss it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is he pressuring you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did he threaten you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s another silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, so this can wait. We’ll look into it tonight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turns around to leave. He has his hand on the handle when Beth puts hers on his forearm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks back at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I promise,” he says. “But I really can’t right now.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then she realizes she’s not here because she needs advice.  She doesn’t want him to stay because she needs to talk, she doesn’t want to talk at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want you out of my life, of my business.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Confused, he drops the handle and turns around to face her and give her his full attention.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He takes a step closer to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Then...I don't wanna play games anymore. Let's expand our business. Let's build something." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But it’s not about the business. It’s not about how much she’s grown as a business or as a person since she met him. It’s not about the advice he gives her, it’s not even about the support he brings her. It’s about him and only him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her hand is still on his forearm, Rio doesn’t make a move to remove it. He just searches her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After what feels like a lifetime of silence, but realistically must be ten seconds, he says: “okay, then, let’s build something.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiles softly at her. Her feet move her closer to him on their own accord. But he doesn’t seem to be bothered, he doesn’t move, he just keeps looking at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she gets closer her hand moves up his arm, holding his elbow now. They are almost chest to chest, an inch only separating them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opens her mouth to whisper a word she’d never thought would apply for them but a word she realizes she’s been longing to use to describe their relationship -whatever it might be-, but he cuts her and says it for her, aloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s so close now that looking down at his wet lips feels like they're already on hers. She realizes she’s not the only one holding him: he’d bent his arm to hold her elbow as well and was running his thumbs over the fabric of her long sleeved dress.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’ve been so adversarial for the last few months it feels weird to be here again. It feels like he should have backed away a while ago but he didn’t. So she thinks </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck it</span>
  </em>
  <span> and she plunges, catching his lips with her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He kisses her back, opening his mouth for her. She can already feel herself get wet -if she wasn’t already- and she moans softly, relieved to finally feel the brush of his lips against hers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then he stops abruptly. He holds her arms back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And she doesn’t know if he’s talking about them in general or if they can’t because he’s supposed to be at a family event or both. Because she’d started to feel him get affected by her. He wanted her, up until a second ago he wanted her. And she’s sure if she looks down he still wants her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looks at her for a second, making a decision, then leaves without any explanation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beth is left in the room with shelves and brooms, unable to describe what just happened and wondering how she’ll get out of the building without being noticed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She takes a minute to gather herself and when she goes for the handle the door slams open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s Rio.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gets inside, closes the door behind him, and takes her face in his hand to kiss her. He kisses her with so much force she could suffocate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He walks her to the back of the room and when her knees hit the edge of a table he glides his hands down and hikes her up on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s hungry for her, his fingers dig in her waist and claw at her thighs. He leaves her no time to sit properly on the table, he’s already lifting her up again to reach her panties under her dress and yank them down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She lets her hand explore his body, brush over his shoulders and his cropped hair as he kisses her open-mouthed, sliding his tongue inside of her mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He brings his hand down to her clit, circling and coating it with her juices. Catching up with him, Beth undoes his belt and pushes down his jeans and boxers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They try not to make too much noise but their movements are frantic and their breathing heavy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rio grabs her thighs and yanks her to the edge of the table. Then in one smooth motion, he penetrates her. Only a few thrusts are necessary for him to bottom out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beth had missed the feeling of being filled by him and it’s becoming more and more difficult to silence her moans. His grunts get louder too, he tries to bury them in her neck as he bites and sucks the thin skin there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Somehow knowing how wrong it is for them to do this here, right now, because of who they are and because of the possibility of someone walking in on them at any moment drives Beth closer and closer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Biting the forbidden fruit has always put Beth on a high, and right now was no exception. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She can feel the mix and anger and hunger running through Rio’s veins, too, and it gets her hornier than it should. But it does. Knowing how much history they have and the fact they still crave each other, he still can’t resist her, she still can’t resist him, is impossibly hot to Beth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s about him. It’s always been about him. It’s about him and how much she yearns for his touch. And how much he yearns for hers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rio pushes her on her back so he can flat himself over her and rub his pubic bone against her clit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tension builds fast from this point on and when it releases her knees snap-close around him, caging him and pushing him towards her. She trembles around him as he hovers over her, panting, his lower lips jutting out. She wraps her arms around him to pull herself to them and kiss him passionately.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His peak follows a couple of minutes after her, while her hips are rolling against his.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the waves pass and blood pumps more slowly in their veins, they break their connection.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is nothing to say really. And Beth doesn’t expect him to say anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He slides his boxers and jeans back up and she picks up her panties on the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He clears his throat and awkwardly turns away to leave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before he can open the door he turns around to say: “so I’ll come by the paper shop tomorrow to discuss… planning.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She just nods, a small timid smile pulling at the corner of her lips. He mimics her reaction and leaves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>What would her life be without him?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Easier. But she never said she wanted it to be.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>How do writers make interesting stories with less than 5k? 😭 Eternal admiration.<br/>You can leave kudos if you still enjoyed it kshjsivnris</p></blockquote></div></div>
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